Power saw attachment for earth moving vehicles



1966 L. A. GRANT 3,234,976

POWER SAW ATTACHMENT FOR EARTH MOVING VEHICLES Filed Dec. 50, 1963 INVENTOR.

LOUIS A. GRANT is ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,234,976 POWER SAW ATTACHMENT FOR EARTH MOVING VEHICLES Louis A. Grant, 7886 Saltsbury Road, Monroevllle, Pa. Filed Dec. 30, 1963, Ser. No. 334,282 2 Claims. (Cl. 144-2) This invention relates to a power saw attachment for earth moving vehicles to enable sawing of limbs and branches of trees etc. This application is a continuationin-part of my application Ser. No. 183,793, filed March 30, 1962, now Patent No. 3,099,852 dated August 6, 1963.

In conventional saws for trees, an outstanding disadvantage is that such saws are useful only for sawing the base of the trunk of the tree, which is accessible, but not useful for sawing branches or limbs since they are located too high and are not accessible by conventional power saws.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel combination of earth moving vehicle and power saw attachment therefor which will enable not only reaching of remote or high portions of the tree, but which will provide selective positioning of the saw so as to cut at any angle and thus effectively cut branches or limbs extending in any direction.

Other objects etc.

FIG. 1 is a front, elevational view of an earth moving vehicle provided with a power saw attachment embodying the present invention, for cutting tree limbs etc.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, top view of the end portion of the boom 3 of FIG. 1 showing the saw attachment;

FIG. 3 is an end view, as viewed from the right of FIG. 2, of the saw attachment; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side of the boom illustrating how pivotal movement of the saw attachment is effected.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawing, numeral 1 denotes a tree and numeral 2 denotes an earth moving machine of known construction, such as that well known under the trademark Gradall, manufactured by the Warner Swasey Co. of Cleveland Ohio. Such machine comprises a telescoping boom 3, to the end of which is attached a pair of journals 4 which journal a hollow cylinder or tube 5, rotatable about its axis by virtue of a conventional longitudinal power movement, by hydraulic means, of rod 20. By a pin and slot connection 21, rod 20 is adapted to rock a lever 22 whose end is rigidly welded to tube 5.

Rotation of tube 5 will effect tilting movement of support members 6 and 7 rigidly clamped thereto and which support a hydraulic motor 8 which drives a shaft 9 and a coupling 10, which shaft extends through a stationary ice bearing or sleeve 12 held by clamp 15 to a base 14, to effect rotation of a rotary saw blade 11 to enable cutting of branches and limbs of a tree. A claw 16, having teeth 17, is rigidly clamped or welded to tube 5 so as to rotate about the axis of the tube for sweeping or pulling sawed off branches of the tree that otherwise might become lodged and held by the tree even after cutting.

In operation, it will be noted that boom 3 not only telescopes outwardly so as to vary the length of the boom, but is pivotal in a vertical plane to different angles and is also rotatable about the axis of the boom through at least to provide tilting movement in different planes of the tube 5 and the saw attachment mounted thereon. Additionally, by hydraulic power operating means, rod 20 is longitudinally moved within boom 3 to effect a partial rotational movement of tube 5 so as to tilt both the rotary saw blade 11 and the claw 16 in various directions and thus enable the cutting of branches extending in different angular relationship with respect to the trunk.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an efficient power saw attachment for use on earth moving vehicles to allow a wide variety of adjustment of the position as well as height of the rotary saw to enable cutting of very high branches extending in various directions and thus effect speedy trimming or cutting down of the tree into pieces of selective length.

While I have illustrated and described a single specific embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustration only, and that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of my invention and within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with an earth moving machine having a telescoping boom and a pair of journals for journalling a tube and power operating means including an operating rod extending through the boom for partially rotating said tube about its axis, a motor rigidly mounted on said tube, and a rotary saw blade coupled to said motor.

2. The combination as recited in claim 1, together with a claw rigidly secured to said tube and having teeth along one edge for removing cut branches from the tree.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,777,483 1/ 1957 Cherem 143-43 X 2,815,048 12/1957 Davis 143--32 X 3,032,956 5/1962 Mullet 143-43 X WILLIAM W. DYER, 111., Primary Examiner.

W. D. BRAY, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION WITH AN EARTH MOVING MACHINE HAVING A TELESCOPING BOOM AND A PAIR OF JOURNALS FOR JOURNALLING A TUBE AND POWER OPERATING MEANS INCLUDING AN OPERATING ROD EXTENDING THROUGH THE BOOM FOR PARTIALLY ROTATING SAID TUBE ABOUT ITS AXIS, A MOTOR RIGIDLY MOUNTED ON SAID TUBE, AND A ROTARY SAW BLADE COUPLED TO SAID MOTOR. 